A friend of mine had previously worked for Apple and still had contacts within the company, so I asked if he could pass along my resume. Within a week, I was contacted by a recruiter in an iPhone engineering group. He wanted to set me up for a phone interview with a manager. We had a time set for the next week, so I prepared for the phone call. The day of the call came, and the manager didn't actually call me at or near our previously agreed upon time. Thirty minutes after the scheduled time, I called Apple and left a voicemail for him. He eventually called me back, apologized for his lack of responsiveness, and asked if I still had time to talk. The interview lasted about 30 minutes and mostly covered my background and past project work. It seemed to go well, though it included few technical questions (I was expecting at least a couple, considering the technical nature of the position). I kept up with the recruiter and heard that they wanted to have me speak with another manager. We scheduled a time to talk, and on that day (and even after another call to his voicemail box) he never called me. I contacted the recruiter and didn't receive much of a response for several days. The interview was rescheduled for a week later, and while the call started a little late, it eventually happened. It lasted again for about 30 minutes, and mostly covered my background and recent projects. The manager asked me a series of exceedingly simple technical questions and let me know that they preferred a certain type of technical experience for the position on his team (an area where I wasn't terribly strong). While the interview again seemed to go well, I got the sense that they were looking for somebody with a different background than me. I received word several weeks later that the manager didn't feel I would be a great fit for the position. I had expected that based on the second phone call. I realize that a company like Apple is renowned for its laser-sharp focus on building successful products like the iPhone, but I got the impression that the work often takes precedence over everything else. I felt that it was rather unprofessional to give me, as the candidate, the run-around not just once, but three times. I still have a very high opinion of the people and products, but I was honestly expecting a bit more from the process.

An internal recruiter approached me about this role. She had an old resume and I gave her a refresh. She was pleasant to talk to. I then proceeded to have a phone screen with the group's SW manager. He informed me it was a position that focused on resolving performance issues, and they're in need of a generalist. I wasn't too confident of my chances, because I know they going to be hard-core about it. We talked about multi-threading issues, like how I'd know my program was in a deadlock situation. I didn't think I was going to get a callback, but I lo and behold, I did! So I go in the following Monday to the Mothership. I was initially double-teamed by 2 engineers. It was pretty much a train-wreck after they were done with me. They asked me stuff that did not leverage my current knowledge...for example: 1) How would I implement 'ls'? My immediate answer: I don't know about File systems to answer that question adquately. 2) How do programs load and run? I might have touched upon that subject briefly in college. Another I-don't-know answer from me. 3) Is it possible to write a user-level pthreads library. I took a stab at this one, but they picked apart every answer I gave, like vultures. So I ended up crying uncle on that too. The rest of the interview was much better, but I knew my goose was cooked/fried by then. I did get the expected no-thank-you note from the recruiter. I did however, write back and relayed to her my awful experience interviewing; that the first two guys either ignored or didn't read my resume...and therefore were ill-suited to interview me. She was really cool, and felt she took my opinion seriously. We have stayed in touch. Although, I subsequently took another company's job offer. It was a no-brainer actually.